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We’ve all seen it happen at networking events — lawyers stick together, not interacting with anyone but their friends and colleagues or, standing alone like wall flowers looking as miserable as they feel. Not only is this behavior common, it’s a huge waste of time and squanders opportunities to meet potential clients and referral sources.

We are constantly thrown into new situations where we hardly know anyone in the room, or, if we see someone we do now, there are masses of strangers between us and our friends. We know we need to meet new people, but we dread introducing ourselves or forgetting the name of people we are supposed to know.

Consistent, profitable growth is hard for law firms to attain and sustain. Revenues can go up and down leading to painful cash flow problems. Many law firms – big and small – are forced, at some point, to take a hard look at their business development efforts and ask, “Is our firm getting the best return on investment for what we’re spending on business development?”

You may think your personality is fixed from the moment of your birth. As a lawyer coach, I doubt it. I have seen clients change key aspects of their personalities in order to accomplish their rainmaking goals.

When you are paying exorbitant rates to stay at luxury hotels and attend legal conferences and bar meetings that are out of town, you want a significant return on your investment from all the happy hours and mixers you attend. The best outcomes occur when you prepare in advance for that networking and do what it takes to make valuable contacts with prospective clients and referral sources.

The complaint I hear often from my lawyer clients is: “I just don’t have time for business development. I have too much work to do!” I reply as gently as possible, “Your pipeline is full now. Great! How much can you count on business always being this good?” Can you afford to neglect business development?

Successful lawyers, regardless of what they lack—money, looks, or social connections—always radiate energy and confidence. Even the most skeptical clients find themselves enamored with these charming personalities. Those lawyers are the ones clients keep returning to for help, advice, and comfort.

The keys to success are self-discipline and accountability to yourself or to a coach. Decide what days and times you are going to plan your legal marketing activities and put those dates on the calendar just as though they are client appointments. Honor those times. Resist the urge to push aside your marketing time to later because, without establishing a marketing habit, later will never come…